This is my cousin Joy, my cousin Teri, my sister Robin, and me in Carlsbad, CA, probably in 1978. Joy is littlest, I am biggest. I was 12 and that was the first swimsuit that I was allowed to pick out for myself. I thought it was the coolest suit ever.
Here's Alex with some cotton candy. Sarah brought me a blue one. It was the first cotton candy that I'd eaten since Bay's 5th birthday. I imagine that the cotton candy lady goes home with it everywhere, it sort of floats on the wind. I was behind Alex when she walked away with hers and that traily-tail that's hanging from the bottom, it went all the way down her back and almost to the ground. Messy stuff.
Here's a couple of Spider-Mans. Or would that be Spider-Men? Whatever you call them, these little guys were adorable. I'm a big Spider-Man fan.
This one is so serious and he has a mohawk. See what I mean? Adorable.
That is all. I'm sick and I'm going to bed.
As usual, I couldn't get exactly what I was hoping to capture. I love any sort of "dew" pictures. There's something about that rounded drop of water.
The water makes some interesting bokeh. I saw more of it before cropping, but then the drops were small. I wish it would rain.
Tracee Sioux has a blog encouraging girl empowerment. She's looking for photos of girls to use in future posts. She would like to feature a wide assortment of girls, so if you have an empowered girl, please click here http://traceesioux.blogspot.com/2008/09/poster-girl-send-photos-of-your-girls.html for instructions on how to send her your photos.
I sent her photos of Sarah and Karlee. They are both interesting, empowered individuals.
Now I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted.
Here's a bonus red, the book that I'm reading New Moon, it's the second book in the Twilight series. That's Sarah's legs - we were sitting together on the patio. 
The kids called me out to see this Praying Mantis. It had a very weathered look to it, unreal, as if made of old paper. The head kept swiveling, back and forth. When Taylor, the girl who is holding it, put her hand down by the bush it was sitting on, it hopped onto her finger. When Taylor was younger, she used to go out to the lawn in the evening, lay in the grass, and catch Dragonflies. This year, she's in the 6th grade. She doesn't spend as much time catching insects. 
Out of all of Sarah's friends, she loves Taylor best. I'm not sure if it's because she's a little older or if it's because of the way she speaks. Is it because she's never met a video game that she can't master or that she practically flies to school on her scooter? Sarah is crushed that they are moving. I try to remind her that it's very exciting for the family. That they will love Washington and that Orion will have a great new job. Kids don't care about those things. All Sarah is thinking is that her friend will be gone and if she wants to talk to her, she's going to have to get on Runescape. Not quite the same as walking next door and knocking on the door.
I need to take some new photos of her. She's with her cousin, Chance, above. I'm going to see if I can get Bay and her friend, Kimm, to sit for me. I want to do some examples of Senior photos. I know that it's probably too late for that this year, but I want to have some seasonal examples for a portfolio. Next year I hope to be very busy with that sort of thing.
I ran for Student Council in the 8th grade. I didn't run in the big election, the one at the end of the 7th grade school year. I ran in a special small election because we were short 3 homeroom representatives. I don't think I gave a speech. They just put my name on a ballot with 5 other people and 3 of us won.
Student Council was fun. We took turns doing these inspections of the hallways and the restrooms. We'd rate the way they were left, if there was garbage on the floor, that kind of thing. If there wasn't, we'd give a good rating and with a week of good ratings, we'd get out early on Friday afternoon. It was called.... well, I can't remember. I'll have to ask Leah and Jackie if they remember. Anyway, it was fun. I can remember that we were all really tough with the inspections, we took our responsibility seriously.
Sarah would be that way. She loves her school and she has some good ideas about what would make a good homeroom representative. Here's a quote from her speech, "... I will do my best to make sure that your voice and your ideas are heard..." 
Well, it's late and I've got a new book, New Moon, to read. After that, I'm pretty sure that I'll be dreaming of this guy. 
This weekend, I plan to clean my place. I have had this plan to go through stuff, clear things out, for some time. I want it to look and feel soothing inside, wherever my eyes land. Some spots are nice. I like how clean this little table looks - I was messing around with my camera and light here.
This pink African Violet is usually next to the purple one. I've had it for about 12-13 years. It used to be in a bigger pot, but I knocked into it with my shoulder once, as I carried Max out to the living room. Ouch. The purple one, it's in a pot that I got when one of the kids was born. I think it was Sarah - has a little hummingbird on it.
Bay just called me from the beach. She rode down to Pismo with my mom, to meet and camp with my sister Robin's family. I could hear the waves and my niece, Trinity. I am wishing that I had gone. I love the beach and being with my family. Bay took this photo of Trin and I last Spring, just before Easter. That water was cold. This is the same swimsuit that I have probably a hundred photos of Trinity in. She's grown a lot since the Spring - it was so long and baggy back then.
Here she is waiting to jump over a wave. Jump! and then she laughs. That's what I could hear over Bay's phone. I wish I was there. I decided not to go because Sarah has a hard time with Robin's friend's kids and she ends up spending her time sitting with the friend's dogs. She asked me please, lets not do this again, so we aren't. If they go on their own sometime, we will go, but I'm not going to tell Robin who to spend her time with - they should camp the way they want to camp. 
I wish I could pack Max and Sarah in the car and head to the coast here. It's only 3.5 hours over to Fort Bragg. Have you ever seen the Mendocino coast? It's jaw-droppingly beautiful in every direction. I love it there. Very dramatic with cliffs and big waves. The mist feels so good on your face and I love the way it smells.
It's been so hot at school, that the kids hang out anywhere they can find shade - along the edges of the building, under the trees out in the field - and I keep my spray bottle filled with water. Their faces get red and I don't want anyone getting sick from the heat. 
August is a crispy time of year. I'm so looking forward to the Fall. October is my favorite month of the year. It's getting closer. :D
See the cracks? It's like this all over. I don't know if it's just another California earth shifting thing or if we've got some sort of sink hole situation going on. I watched this show once that explained that sink holes can be from construction - they clear the land, bury the trees, when the trees rot and break down, the ground sinks. I wonder if that is what is going on here? My apartment has weird cracks in the exterior walls, the front door fits oddly and has been adjusted twice, and all of our bedroom doors are off a bit. Bay's is way off, but she's got this door slamming problem and the whole doorway is screwed up.
This is a Valley Oak tree. Can you see my black flip flop? I put it next to the tree so that you could get an idea of how big it is. These are really gorgeous trees. The branches sometimes curve all the way to the ground. Where I grew up, we had little oak trees, nothing like these. That's my upstairs neighbor going by on the motorcycle. He's a nice kid with a big surround-sound issue. It's annoying, at times, but I prefer it to the neighbor who had the big barfing off the 2nd story into my plants problem. Yuck.
This is the second version of this post. The first one disappeared when I lost my connection. I lost track of how many times that happened today. Really, really, really a pain in the ass. The other verson was funny and entertaining - you would have been surprised by my incredible insights. I'm serious.
Chance is such a handsome boy. I was looking at Rob's photos of the first day of school. He's a 6th grader now. I can remember when he was a baby and I got to spend every weekday with him. I loved taking care of him. He liked to be held a lot and to get him to go to sleep, I'd lay down next to him and he'd play with my hair. I'm sure that this made it very hard for Robin to put him down on weekends. 
I took this the same day - it's the Senator Theater. Pretty cool old building. I saw "A Walk In the Clouds," there years ago. It was upstairs, I think, because I can remember leaving by the side door - they steered us in that direction - and then I was stuck on this steep metal staircase, leading 3 year-old Bay and carrying 4-year-old Max in his stroller. Tricky climb down. Not from the tower, though. I realize that might be misleading - just from the 2nd story.
Here's another shot from the opposite direction. That's Casey to the side, next to the poles. When I added the fill light to this one, it got little dots on it and I thought that they looked kind of interesting. 
This is the last one. It shows that light fairly well. It is really a pretty place to be in the evening. I have no idea who that little girl is, but she looks like she's having a blast.
The first day we took Kimm and the girls made the comment that heck, they could have been doing that all Summer. (Okay, the "heck" was all me). I agreed and explained (again - I'm always making this particular point) that having fun doesn't have to cost anything. 
The day we took Kimm with us to the creek, I got to thinking about the girls and how today girls don't seem to be as focused on boys as me and my friends were. I think that this is a good thing and it took me a long time and a whole lot of pain to learn that my life has meaning even when there is not a man in it. I wrote about it over at Dating Dames. You can see it, and my lovely daughter, Bay, here http://www.datingdames.com/lesson-learned-from-my-daughter/
More lovely weather here in Chico. After suffering through the heat wave of last week, we've had some mild days in the 80s. Yay! 
The cooler weather means it's much more comfortable on the patio. I cut my plants back and fed them. My tomatoes have never grown any tomatoes. How weird is that? I've grown tomatoes in pots off and on for years. This is the first time this has happened and it happened to BOTH plants. I took them out of the pots, put them in the soil - still NO tomatoes. It sucks. Oh well, I suppose that's what the Farmer's Market is for.
Sarah and her pals are out there right now. The window is open and I can hear their music and their laughter.
One of her friends just started middle school. She is sitting out there with make-up on. I wonder if that is odd to Sarah? Yesterday, this same friend came walking down the path and she was wearing high-heeled boots. She walked all the way home that way. Ouch. Growing up, it can be painful.
I'm having much fun with my new writing job. Today I posted the 2nd part of a 3 part series on online dating. Some people think it's risky, that the online sites are full of freaks and pervs, but honestly, I have some friends who have met some wonderful men. I'd love to see or read or hear about others have that kind of luck in love. If you'd like to see it, it's at http://www.datingdames.com
I have a new co-blogger over there. Her name is Lara and she sounds pretty interesting. She is a volunteer firefighter, a plus-size model, an actor, and a zoologist. She's done some more things, but I can't remember what at the moment.
Okay, that's about it for now.
Here's Sarah getting in on the photo. Can you see her glittery blue nail? She had a special manicure.
I said, "Hey, let me get that red tongue - it's perfect for Ruby Tuesday."
This view shows the Bell Tower in the background - the setting sun is hiding it in a glow.
These are some seriously mature Rose bushes and many of them have some pretty gnarly thorns. I love visiting the gardens and if you are ever in town, I suggest you check them out, but don't pick any - there's a steep fine for pickers.
For more Ruby Tuesday photos, take a look at the list located at the creator of Ruby Tuesday, The Teach's Work of the Poet. 
and this, which reminds me, I haven't shot any baskets in forever. I think I'll see if Sarah wants to do that today. 
I could feel my neighbors watching me when I took this one. I ignored it, got down in the grass and tried to catch my favorite clover flowers. I got a flare, too. I like a flare. I think that this was the point that I changed to the other camera. It has a more silvery look to it. I prefer it.
More of my Japanese Maple that I introduced in yesterday's post. 
In the evening, there was a beautiful sunset. I grabbed my camera and drove over to the mall where there's a wider shot of it available. I got out, focused, then ...........nothing. My memory card was still in my computer. I drove backhome, got it, drove back, took a couple of shots, then Mall security drove up and he told me that I could not take photos of the building. I said, "You can see that I'm pointed away from the mall, at the sunset, can't you?" I could not believe that it's against the law to take photos of the stores signs. I could feel my inner rebellious child wanting to sass this guy. Every once in awhile, that kid pushes me to be a bit stupid. 
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